SC notice to Twitter, Centre on plea seeking to curb hate speech

The Supreme Court on Friday issued a notice to the Centre and Twitter on a plea seeking a mechanism to check content on Twitter spreading hatred through fake news and instigative content through bogus accountsA bench headed by Chief Justice SA Bobde issued the notice on a plea by BJP leader Vinit Goenka seeking a mechanism to check content on Twitter spreading hatred through fake news and instigative content through bogus accounts The top court tagged the matter with similar pending petitions seeking social media regulationThe plea filed through advocate Ashwani Kumar Dubey argued that presently total number of Twitter handles in India are around 35 million and total number of Facebook accounts are 350 million and experts says that around 10 per cent Twitter handles 35 million and 10 per cent Facebook accounts 35 million are duplicatebogusfakeThe petitioner argued that these fake Twitters handles and bogus Facebook accounts have been created in the name of eminent people and high dignitaries including the President of India Vice President of India Prime Minister of India Chief Ministers Cabinet Ministers Chief Justice of India and the judges of the Supreme Court and High CourtsGoenka said that these fake Twitter handles and Facebook accounts use real photos of constitutional authorities and eminent citizens As a result the common man relies upon the messages published from these Twitter handles and Facebook accountsThe petitioner insisted that fake news is the root cause of many riots including the one in Delhi earlier this year Moreover bogus accounts are used to promote communalism which is a threat to the unity of the country The plea argued that political parties use fake social media accounts to tarnish the image of opponents during elections and also selfpromotionThe plea sought the apex court to issue direction to the Centre Ministry of Information amp Broadcasting Ministry of Law amp Justice and Twitter India to make a mechanism against the social media accounts in order to stop the hatred fake instigative and other news which are contrary to the law of the country or violates the law of the countryThe plea also sought directions to make a law to initiate action against Twitter and their representatives in India for wilfully abetting and promoting anti India tweets and penalising themThe petitioner cited that the Ministry of Home Affairs has banned Sikhs for Justice SFJ under the Unlawful Activities and Prevention Act on July 10 2019 yet this banned organisation continues to have an active presence on Twitter promoting its agenda The petitioner argued despite sending a representation to the authority concerned no action has been taken against social media giant TwitterThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever